Berkeley Senate Endorses Resolution on Sports Funding

Submitted by Doug Lederman on November 10, 2009 - 3:00am

The Academic Senate at the University of California at Berkeley backed a non-binding resolution[1] last week that calls for an end to administrative subsidies for athletics and more faculty oversight of the sports program, The Daily Californianreported[2]. Professors voted 91 to 68 in favor of the resolution, inspired by revelations not only that the athletics department is currently getting millions of dollars a year in campus "loans," but that the university had forgiven $31 million in previous shifts of funds that were supposed to have been repaid. Campus administrators opposed the resolution, and the athletics director, Sandy Barbour, called it "terribly unfortunate," the Californian said.